An increasingly bitter inheritance dispute at the Rs 30,000 crore-valued Sona Comstar Group has brought late industrialist Sunjay Kapur’s family into the spotlight. Kapur’s mother, Rani Kapur, has accused unnamed individuals of attempting to wrest control of the family-run business. In a letter, Rani alleged that she had been locked in a room and forced to sign documents under duress.
The Sona Group has since responded saying Rani ceased to be a shareholder in 2019 and therefore no longer holds a decision-making role in the company. Nonetheless, she called for the postponement of the company’s annual general meet. Rani claimed that she has been excluded from key decisions being made in the company.
ALSO READ“Rani Kapur not a shareholder of the company”: Sona Comstar refutes Sunjay Kapur’s mother’s claims
Despite her objections, the AGM went ahead on Friday (July 25) and Sanjuy Kapur’s wife Priya Sachdev Kapur was formally inducted into the board of Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd as non-executive director. With the family’s internal tensions spilling into the public eye, the Kapur saga joins a dense list of high-profile family inheritance disputes within India’s billionaire families.
Dhirubhai Ambani family feud
One of the most known corporate feuds in Indian corporate history was that between brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani. When Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani died intestate in 2002, his sons engaged in a years-long tussle over the empire. Peace was temporarily brokered by their mother, Kokilaben Ambani, who split the business between the two. Yet, despite moments of reconciliation, the rivalry never fully healed.
Today, Mukesh’s Reliance Industries is a $200 billion behemoth, while Anil’s business ventures have faltered under regulatory and financial scrutiny. Once in 2018, Mukesh Ambani bailed his younger brother out of debt trouble.
Modi vs Modi
The case of Modi Enterprises began after the group’s chairman, Krishan Kumar Modi, passed away. His legal will stated a split of his vast fortune, which was estimated at over Rs 11,000 crore, among his wife, Bina, sons Samir and Lalit, and daughter Charu. Initially, the arrangement appeared to hold, with Samir and Charu backing Bina Modi and the family trust.
However, by February 2024, things took a sharp turn. Samir Modi filed a lawsuit accusing his mother of mismanaging company affairs and violating the terms of the trust.
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